Following the controversial, public execution of William Dickson in Leavenworth (1870), the state legislature passed Senate Bill 18 (1872) to regulate procedures for carrying out a death sentence. The act provides that the punishment of death must be by "hanging by the neck." The act also provides that the time of the execution must be ordered by the governor. In effect, this law imposed a ban on state executions since no governor ever ordered an execution between 1872-1907, the year the law was repealed. Dickson's execution would be the last conducted under state law for 73 years.

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Following the controversial, public execution of William Dickson in Leavenworth (1870), the state legislature passed Senate Bill 18 (1872) to regulate procedures for carrying out a death sentence. The act provides that the punishment of death must be by "hanging by the neck." The act also provides that the time of the execution must be ordered by the governor. In effect, this law imposed a ban on state executions since no governor ever ordered an execution between 1872-1907, the year the law was repealed. Dickson's execution would be the last conducted under state law for 73 years.